The average marine vehicle theft payout is one of the highest of all forms of insurance payouts. This is due to how few marine vehicles are recovered after having been stolen, resulting in a complete loss. As a consequence, insurance premiums are higher for marine vehicles than they could be if more marine vehicles were recovered. Alternatively, premiums may be even lower if the number of marine vehicles theft attempts were to drastically drop. However, current technology used to prevent marine vehicle theft is somewhat lacking. The simplest theft deterrent systems used for preventing marine vehicle theft include trailer locks, propeller locks, and wheel boots. These methods may prevent thieves stealing a marine vehicle temporarily, but they do not alert the owner or anyone nearby of the attempted theft. Additionally, potential marine vehicle thieves are only temporarily deterred instead of outright dissuaded from attempting to steal a marine vehicle fitted with such devices. This allows a thief to return better prepared at a later date to steal the marine vehicle without raising suspicion from the first attempt.
More advanced theft deterrent systems may use sensors to detect motion, noise, vibrations, rocking, acceleration, and geolocation. Motion sensors, noise sensors, and vibration sensors monitor changes in the marine vehicle's environment, but these sensors are not always desirable for marine vehicles stored in water since the natural motion of a boat in water may trigger an alarm. These more modern theft deterrent systems use accelerometers and gyroscopes to determine when a marine vehicle is in motion, but these systems only alert a user when the marine vehicle is moving from one location to another. Global positioning systems are also used to determine the location of a marine vehicle, but like the accelerometer and gyroscope only alert the user of a theft when the marine vehicle is already moving from one place to another. Additionally, current technology that uses accelerometers and gyroscopes to prevent the theft of boats may not always determine exactly when a theft is in progress. For instance, a marine vehicle located in a boat lift may have already been lowered to the water before an alarm is triggered if the thief lowers the boat at a rate slow enough that it may not register as anything more than noise by the accelerometer. Thus, the more modern theft deterrent systems are not as optimal at preventing boat theft as much as they are at recovering stolen marine vehicles.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method for monitoring the motion and environment of a marine vehicle to sense sudden changes that may indicate a theft before the marine vehicle is being moved from one geolocation to another.